[Plugin][$] Vertex Tools

thomthom

That would be great. Since it's intermittent, as you report, the trigger could be under some circumstances which I'd not use it - so being able to see in-action use would help immensely.

Bob James

One thing: If I have a whole row or pattern of vertices already selected and want to move them (let's say "up") what does it mean when it says, "Pick two points to move......."? I've already several points "picked"????

thomthom

@bob james said:

One thing: If I have a whole row or pattern of vertices already selected and want to move them (let's say "up") what does it mean when it says, "Pick two points to move......."? I've already several points "picked"????

I matched the same text for Vertex Tools with the text SketchUp display for it's tools. Works just like the native Move tool.

A "point" is a point in 3d space.
What you select (with Vertex Tools) is a "vertex".
(I had trouble with this when translating to Norwegian, as the words one would pick for both translated to the same word.)

Bob James

It turns out that the problem (in addition to the standard numbness of my brain) appears to be the computers I am using.

At work (where I really need your tool) I have a three-year-old Mac Pro running Win7 under Boot Camp with two 30" monitors.
At home I have an i7 860 and an nVidea GTX480 running two 24" monitors.

At work is where I was/am having all the difficulty. At home it works fine. So I chalk it up to the "antiquity" of the setup at work.

In the simple test case attached, I've put a horizontal "road" around the "mountain" (it really is flat even though in perspective it doesn't look like it) and a flat plain to put the "house" on. I also attached two meshes by lifting and joining vertices to make the final mesh. I had to rotate the flat surfaces in two directions to get them horizontal, hence the request that I be able to select one of the chosen vertices (or maybe even another vertex not in the original group) as the final level for all chosen vertices.

I'm still not really clear on the "two points": is one a vertex and the other a point in 3D space in the direction I want to move?

I'm anxious to see what direction you're going to take this tool: it has great potential.

Simple test terrain

thomthom

@bob james said:

I had to rotate the flat surfaces in two directions to get them horizontal, hence the request that I be able to select one of the chosen vertices (or maybe even another vertex not in the original group) as the final level for all chosen vertices.

I'm thinking that an extra tool is needed. One where, while you move the mouse about it picks up the normal of the face you point on, like the protractor (which you can use the shift to lock), then when you click you make the selected vertices project to that plane.

@bob james said:

I'm still not really clear on the "two points": is one a vertex and the other a point in 3D space in the direction I want to move?

A point refer to any 3d point in the model, a vertex is always refereed to as a vertex.
Like the native tool, you click one time for the start of the move and a second time for the end. None has to be anywhere on any geometry.

thomthom

I wonder what could cause one of your computers to have problems... do you have problems with other plugins? Or SU tools?

Bob James

@thomthom said:

I wonder what could cause one of your computers to have problems...

Beats me Most probably user error

@thomthom said:

do you have problems with other plugins? Or SU tools?

No, and I have a lot of them

thomthom

hmm.... let me know if the same issues should manifest them selves on any other computers.

EarthMover

Hi Thomas!

Been working on a project all morning and using a lot of vertex tools to stitch two contour meshes together.

Not sure if this is on your list or has been mentioned previously, but have you considered adding a Vert Drop feature to your plugin? Perhaps pulling some of your testing from your Raytest tools or TIG's drape Cpoints plugin? I've been individually moving verts down on the Z axis to intersect with an adjacent mesh below and just thought what a time saver it would be if I could select a row of verts and just hit Drop. Figured I'd mention it.

thomthom

I have been toying with an idea of a feature where you pick geometry which the vertices will stop on when you move them.

EarthMover

Ahh....a Constraint feature. Very cool idea. There is something similar in Modo.

thomthom

Yea - geometric constraints.

Bob James

All is well with your great tool.
Attached is the current status of my major terraforming project (~95% complete).
I could not have done it without Vertex Tools as the major player.
All the areas around the buildings had to be modified, especially those in the upper part

Rendered with Thea

thomthom

Thanks for posting back examples of what the tool is being used for.

xrok1

hey. how are things going with this one? any news/progress?

thomthom

Working on some other projects at the moment - but they have elements which I pull into VE. In fact, they are somewhat like prototype trials for VE.

thomthom

When I say VE I mean Vertex Tools - I keep thinking "Vertex Edit" which was the working title...

xrok1

Can't wait!

Bob James

By the way (back on the Vertex Tools thread), how's Version 1.1 coming along?

Bob James

@xrok1 said:

hey. how are things going with this one? any news/progress?

Several things:

I've finished adding more buildings and upgraded some of those that are already in.
Used Vertex Tools to clean up more of the Google Earth mesh mismatches.
I've purchased Instant Road from valiArchitects.com and plan to make the roads in the GE mesh into "real" roads.
Although Thea is my primary render program it's still a beta so they won't get to adding EcoSystem capability until long after I need it: so I've purchase Vue 8 Complete so I can export the whole thing with the new SU2Vue plugin and use the EcoSystem to add "real" bushes and trees. This is going to take a while since I've never used Vue before.